The Supreme Court of the Republic of Komi has refused the petition of appeal sent by lawyers of the ex-CEO of T Plus Boris Vainzikher, who asked to change the measure of restraint against this defendant in the Renova case to a milder one, the house arrest. The documents provided by the defense included a good conduct certificate on Vainzikher signed by a member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Makarov, as well as personal guarantees from the film director Nikita Mikhalkov and the former Head of the Presidential Administration Alexander Voloshin. However, even such celebrities could not help the defendant.

"To affirm the resolution of the Syktyvkar City Court and reject the complaint," the judge stated, as quoted by
Kommersant.

Previously, the Supreme Court of Komi also left in custody another person involved in the Renova case of bribes worth more than 800 million rubles, committed by Komi high-ranking officials (Art. 291 of the Criminal Code) — Renova top manager Evgeny Olkhovik. In the next days, an appeal against the arrest in-absentia of the third accused will be considered, the ex-Head of VimpelKom Mikhail Slobodin, who managed to escape abroad and was put on the international wanted list. His lawyer explained that accusations against Slobodin are based on statements of the former Deputy Chairman of the Komi Government Konstantin Romadanov (the defendant in Vyacheslav Gaizer’s case), who signed a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the prosecution, as well as on the testimony of certain witnesses Sadykov and Sokolov.

According to Kommersant, investigators from the ICR Department in Komi Republic arrived in Moscow to interrogate the alleged accomplices of Vyacheslav Gayzer , who stand accused of Participation in a Criminal Organization, Swindling, and Laundering of stolen goods (Art. 210, Art. 159, and Art. 174.1 of the Criminal Code). For now, they are onlu questioned as witnesses in the Lefortovo detention center. By the way, Syktyvkar investigators allegedly have not yet been able to talk to Vyacheslav Gaizer himself, because one of the deputies of the ICR Head Alexander Bastrykin, who personally supervises the investigation in these criminal cases, has refused to sign the corresponding request. However, Vyacheslav Gayzer’s former Deputy Alexey Chernov did provide his testimony. According to the lawyer Igor Kopenkin, his client gave detailed testimony, confirming that he knew Olkhovik, Vainzikher, and Slobodin, as they had worked in the republic. During interrogation, Chernov emphasized that they had a business relationship only.

As the CrimeRussia previously
reported, on September 5, during the searches in Renova and T Plus, law enforcers detained Vainzikher and Olkhovik. Later, the Syktyvkar City Court arrested them for two months on suspicion of transferring bribes worth more than 800 million rubles to former Komi authorities from the 2007-2014 period. On September 12, they were formally charged.

According to investigators, the top managers of T Plus (Olkhovik led the company in 2010-2012, Vainzikher — since 2012) paid bribes to the republican authorities in exchange for disregarding the modernization works at energy facilities in Vorkuta. The Komi officials also raised rates for the company and provided other benefits. Mikhail Slobodin, who had been the Head of T Plus in the period from 2003 to 2010, was also put on the wanted list.